The present disclosure relates generally to editing and producing time-based media. Specifically, the embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for selecting portions of time-based media to play in a preview.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In application programs for editing and producing time-based media, the user interface may present a visual depiction of the different tracks of graphics, text, video, and sound that will be included in the media. For example, in a video editing program, the user interface may present the different tracks for video, graphics, and text that will be overlaid as a single image and the different tracks for sound. The user interface may also include a variety of menus, radio buttons, checkboxes, and the like to control and edit the different tracks.
The media-application may also include a preview mode, which allows a user to view or listen to a preview of the media in its current state. In particular, the user can utilize the preview mode to evaluate recent changes made to the media without making the changes permanent (i.e., saving the changes). Accordingly, the preview mode reduces the complexity of the editing process, as the user does not have to create several copies of the media with various changes to evaluate different editing decisions. Further, if a significant amount of time is necessary to compile the media file, then eliminating the need for the user to create several copies of the media may reduce the time required for the editing process.
In certain situations, the user may want to preview only a portion of the tracks. For instance, the user may want to preview only one video track and one audio track to ensure that the two tracks are properly synchronized. In another example, the user may wish to only view video tracks to determine if certain aspects of the videos (e.g., white or color balance, exposure, etc.) are consistent throughout the compiled video. However, the media-editing application may limit how a user selects which portions of a media to include in a preview. For instance, the application may take an “all or nothing” approach, in which all tracks of a particular type of track are either included, or not. Other media-editing applications may involve individually selecting the tracks to include in or exclude from the preview using menus within the user interface. Further, some media-editing applications may not allow users to select only a portion of the media to include in a preview.